A standard slicing machine has a carriage that can be reciprocated longitudinally past a normally circular rotating blade to cut slices from a foodstuff, for instance a piece of meat or cheese, sitting on the input carriage. On the other side of the blade the slices are picked up by a conveyor, typically a fork-, belt-, or chain-type arrangement having a support plate and provided with a multiplicity of sharp points so that the slices can be caught as they issue from the downstream side of the blade. The slices are then deposited on an output table which is positioned horizontal underneath the downstream side of the blade. Thus as the input carriage is moved back and forth, slices are cut from the foodstuff thereon, these slices pass the. blade and are picked up the conveyor, and the transfer fork deposits them in a stack on the output table, which itself can shift horizontally to array the incoming slices. The system is operated by a computer-type controller having a light-curtain sensor that detects when the leading edge of the foodstuff comes into contact with the blade and when the blade reaches its trailing edge. Such machines are described in detail in my earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,185,527, 4,217,650, 4,338,836, 4,379,416, 4,586,409, 4,598,618, 4,763,738, and 4,867,257. They can calculate slice thickness, portion size, and the like and can produce ready-to-sell packages of neatly arrayed slices.
In automatic machines the input carriage is reciprocated past the blade by a drive. Normally a simple crank arrangement that moves it through a stroke equal to full travel of the input table is used.
In manual machines the input carriage is pushed by the operator past the blade. Obviously until the foodstuff is in contact with the blade, the carriage moves easily on its guides. Once the blade starts to cut, however, the operator has to apply some force, and even after the cut is complete when the foodstuff is still riding against the face of the blade, it takes some force to retract the carriage and start another slice. In practice the job of manually cutting even a small portion of a hard foodstuff, e.g. provolone, can be somewhat tiresome, and of course large jobs become a fair amount of work.